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I have an iOS device and the display dims despite my settings. It is either a bug or it is on purpose but I have set the display on maximum brightness. It still adjusts the brightness if I’m in a shadow or in the sun. I can see this happening.

I have accessibility issues. Dear Apple, If this is intentional PLEASE STOP DOING THIS! Please stop dimming the display despite my turning off the auto-adjust feature.

Now the setting is gone!?! How do I stop this?

FYI I noticed that low power mode is also dimming the display even with auto brightness turned off. Try it yourself.

Mentioning this again 7/2022,
even with auto brightness turned off the screen still dims based on if it’s on low power mode and also seems to be checking ambient brightness. This is really bothersome for those with accessibility including myself! I can’t get it to show at the original brightness.

FYI Here is my test proof:

FYI The iPad still dims the screen somewhat despite the auto brightness. If I have it at a 90 angle at the table it is a certain brightness. If I lay it flat on the table with the light above it gets much brighter. Even with the auto brightness turned off.

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2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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The toggle you are looking for, as you mentioned yourself, is in Accessibility settings:

Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Auto-Brightness

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  • 1
    Thank you! Why did they move in it? Anyway
    – 1.21 gigawatts
    Commented Feb 8, 2022 at 17:49
  • 1
    Because it preserves battery and some people will change these settings without actually needing them. By moving them to Accessibility they can emphasize the impact of the switch.
    – Ezekiel
    Commented Feb 8, 2022 at 18:05
  • FYI to the readers it looks like low power mode is dimming the display even with this option turned off grrrr
    – 1.21 gigawatts
    Commented Feb 21, 2022 at 0:35
  • It is still a dim screen
    – 1.21 gigawatts
    Commented Jul 7, 2022 at 23:12
  • Yes that’s intentional low power mode decreases power usage
    – Ezekiel
    Commented Jul 9, 2022 at 0:47
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There are three instances when iOS dims the display:

Auto Brightness

This function adjusts the brightness up and down throughout the day to match your ambient brightness so that you are not looking at an incredibly bright display in a dark room, or vice versa.

It seems you found how to disable this, so you got rid of one instance.

Low Power mode

There’s not much the iPad can do to lower the power usage and the display is one of the largest battery consumers.

Not dimming the display would be very much equivalent to not enabling low power mode in the first place. As you guessed, the fix for this is “don’t enable low power mode”

High temperature

When the iPad heats up too much, it has to lower its temperature somehow, or it can overheat and stop working, it can degrade the battery very fast, etc.

In a passive cooled device (without a fan) like the iPad, the only way to lower the heat is to lower the power usage.

So iOS cuts the biggest consumers: the screen and the CPU and GPU.

You can’t do anything to stop this dimming from happening, but you can do things to cool down your device faster.

Use an external fan if you have one around, or even packs of ice, or placing the iPad on a metal table to let the heat dissipate.

I noticed you asked if Lunar works for iPad here. The answer is no, the iPadOS is too restrictive to allow an app to change the brightness of the system or of other apps.

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  • Thanks Alin. I believe there is a 4th instance. I know for sure that the Macbook is using the camera to check ambient light values. Turn on keyboard backlights. Then cover the camera. The keyboard backlights dim. Now do the same for the iPad. Cover the camera. The screen dims. Even with Auto Brightness turned off. Now put your phone flash light up to the iPad camera. The display will brighten! It's about the same dimness as the low power. I don't have the equipment but a screen brightness detector could prove this maybe.
    – 1.21 gigawatts
    Commented Aug 29, 2022 at 14:11
  • Both the MacBook and the iPad are actually using a dedicated Ambient Light Sensor near the camera to do what you are describing. It's the same as the first instance I described above. I just checked and with Auto Brightness and True Tone disabled, the display brightness and colors always remain the same even when I cover the sensor.
    – Alin Panaitiu
    Commented Aug 29, 2022 at 14:43
  • Good to know. It might be older macs / iPads. Hmm... maybe it may be nice to have Apple tell the user how bright the display is currently displaying at.
    – 1.21 gigawatts
    Commented Aug 29, 2022 at 14:50

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